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SAANICHNEWS LOOK FOR OUR SPECIAL FEATURE DELIVERED IN SELECT PAPERS TODAY!
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NEWS: Saanich council gets annual check-up /A6 DRIVEWAY: Meeting Miata mates for life /A12 HOMEFINDER: Real estate agent skills ever expanding /A18
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Friday, June 27, 2014
Best of the City launches
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The 2014 Best of the City, Greater Victoria’s go-to guide of the region’s best offerings, hits newsstands today. Check out the best leisure and entertainment spots, the best free events and even the best thrift shops, as voted by you. We’ve also included our take on Victoria’s top 10 hidden gems for relaxing during the hot summer months, as well as our Victoria A-to-Z list of the Capital Region’s big-hearted names who make this corner of the world the best place to live. Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Best of the City highlights everything that defines our community. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed compiling it.
Playground patrol Nineteen-monthold Tess Murphy rocks on the teeter totter of Hampton Park playground, near Tillicum Mall. Saanich has 167 parks, and 97 per cent of residents live within a five-minute walk of a park or open public space. Travis Paterson/News staff
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‘Catch the spirit’ at Commonwealth reunion Travis Paterson News staff
Saanich’s benefits from the Victoria 1994 Commonwealth Games are easy to see, and it’s almost time for those who experienced the motto “Catch the Spirit” to re-live it at the Pacific Institute of Sport Excellence on Aug. 23. The 20th anniversary party for the Victoria 1994 Commonwealth Games gave us the ‘Commonwealth Kids’ generation, led by Claremont secondary came Olympic diver
Riley McCormick and two-time Olympic medalist swimmer Ryan Cochrane. They grew up in Saanich Commonwealth Place, benefitting from the high performance programs in place thanks to the 1994 games and are are going to this summer’s 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, July 23 to Aug. 4. “The spirit lives on,” said Jim Reed, who was the executive vice-president of the 1994 CWG. “It’s a family reunion. We expect two to three thousand people to show up. There were 14,000 volunteers, organizers and athletes
during the ‘94 games, and the event was a turning point for sport in the Capital Region and the country, Reed said. Bringing the Commonwealth Game to Victoria was a cross-municipal endeavour with Saanich solidifying the bid by building Saanich Commonwealth Place. It took a lot of hard work, recalled then Saanich mayor Murray Coell, who’ll be on hand at the anniversary party. PlEASE SEE: Volunteers invited to anniversary event, Page A10
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